My Old Man Said Follow the Van Saar

See, this is what happens when you live a ten minute walk away from a FLoGS.

Dick Van Dyyke sings 'My Old Power Bamboo'

The Van Saar gang didn't really grab me when they first came out. Something about their metal pony tails and super-sci-fi look made me miss the old days, when they looked like a bunch of roadies. Orlocks have that nailed down now, I guess.

White Van Maan*

Bridge over the Van Saar Chasm

But they grew on me, once I decided they would make good stand-ins and were cheaper than two more boxes of Scions. The former reason is possibly more convincing than the second. I did have ideas about mix and matching guns and heads, for example, but it wasn't happening. The Van Saar are much slimmer and more elegant than the Scions, the arms were a poor fit.

Advaancing on the Double

The Lady (he's shooting at) Vaanishes

Lots of special weapons, because they look good and because I need them for Scion plasma teams. But even their lasguns look good. Even the laspistols, in fact! First time I've seen one look actually dangerous or desirable. The laser shotties are the best. Bit of a faff to glue, as the butt of each gun is a separate piece from the barrel, but that at least gives you a lot of choice as to who has what.

Van Haalen Jumpsuit

No weird robo-dreadlocks for this team. I don't like them, they're too busy on already detailed models, and I can't quite work out if they're for plugging yourself into computers to hack them or some sort of medical complaint thing. Leaving the plug in the back of the head is just as good, I think. I did leave one, he'll get to be the Vox Caster stand-in for Scion duty.

It's this guy. You can't see it, but he definitely has Van Aaeriel Disease.

Painting white is usually like ski-jumping. Looks great when it goes well, but high potential for disaster. I went with a slightly different mix from the Scions I've done, partly to differentiate and partly for fun. The Scions got a white basecoat with black underclothes painted on afterwards. The Van Saar went the other way round, with black basecoat and white armour done on next. Took longer, I think, but looks a bit sharper.

Van der Graaf Generator

Van Guaard

Then there's the plastic shields. I've got mixed feelings about them, they're even worse than white armour to paint. A tiny slip and you've ruined it, although you can mop or scrape off smears to some extent. Painting electrical wiggles on the projectors is really just overcompensation, but it looked too boring in black. There's also a spare handle on the transparent sprue, in case you want to assemble a shield lying on the floor or something? I stuck it on the leader's base, so he's clearly nicked a Van Jaam Jar.

Vanger Maanagement

Painting Guide:

• Basecoat - Black
• Armour - Celestria Grey, Agrax Earthshade, Ulthuan Grey layer then White highlights. Kabalite Green stripes, put on with some new tools I got, nifty sculpted rubber blades for fine detail work. 
• Undersuit - The basecoat with a bit of Eshin Grey and Dawnstone highlighting
• Guns - Eshin Grey, Nuln Oil, Dawnstone and Ulthuan Grey highlights. Khorne Red, Nuln Oil and Evil Suns Scarlet for barrels, silver and gold details as below
• Plasma - Goblin Green, Athonian Camoshade, then blended Warpstone Green and White mix for the glow
• Eyes and Screens - Deadly Nightshade blended up via Teclis Blue and Lothern Blue to white
• Gold - Gehenna's Gold, Reikland Flesh, Auric Armour Gold
• Silver - Leadbelcher, Nuln Oil, Runefang Steel
• Bases - Undercoat washed heavily with watery Skrag Brown, Leadbelcher and Ironbreaker drybrushed over
• Skin - Rakarth Flesh, Reikland Flesh wash, Flayed One Flesh highlights

Back to the Massive Darkness monsters now. There's been a few on the go side-by-side with this lot, along with a little bonus for the Scion army. Counts As troopers is all very well, but they need some actual models too, or they get jealous, poor dears.

Everybody be cool! You, be cool!

*Thanks to Stylus for his kind donation of several puns to this article. Many brains were irreparably damaged in its creation.